I stick by my "Gamefreak cares about balance in seemingly weirdest of places" stance since honestly by all counts an uber that's banned in 94% of all instances could get Roost and not care, but it would probably be an extra nightmare for VGC's "anything goes" years so they'll make a concession for this while not touching other aspects
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Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
The only potential explanation on why Giratina does not get Roost is that it's a Ghost-type Pokémon. The only two Ghost-type Pokémon that do get the move (Sensu Oricorio and Decidueye) have alternate forms or evolutionary relatives that lack the Ghost-type.
Alternatively, it's because of its Altered Forme not exactly being a flier (its ability to learn Fly notwithstanding). But then again, Doduo and Dodrio can learn the move, so...
Alternatively, it's because of its Altered Forme not exactly being a flier (its ability to learn Fly notwithstanding). But then again, Doduo and Dodrio can learn the move, so...
Why does being a Ghost type contribute to not being able to learn Roost?
The act of "roosting" is the flying pokemon landing in order to recover energies from flying.
Most ghost type pokemon don't actually fly, they levitate due to being undead, cursed or malevolent magic entities, without spending any energy to do so.
It makes sense that they cannot tecnically perform the act of landing to recover.
Yeah yeah, logic in pokemon, but it actually makes sense if you think of it. The Dragons who learn Roost do actually have wings for flying, and the Levitators that float due to magnetism or magic (for example Bronzong, Weezing) don't learn Roost either.
And yes, Doduo/Dodrio are out of place but... I mean, they learn Fly so.... don't let me pull the dodriocopter meme... :P
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Most of the Hyper Beam learners that are NFE are either previously fully-evolved, or have it in level-up
...except for Nuzleaf. For some wack reason.
So is there any possible reason?
...except for Nuzleaf. For some wack reason.
So is there any possible reason?
Actually, there is one other exception, which also seems to be the only exception for Giga Impact, that being Type: Null.
Type: Null was designed (in-story) to be a fully-evolved Pokemon, though; Gladion was just the first to figure out how to evolve it (even if that evolution is more like a semi-permanent form change). So it makes sense that it could learn HP and GI, much as Seadra and Porygon can.
Nuzleaf, though, I've no idea.
Clobbopus evolves into Grapploct by learning Taunt.
What? Why?
What? Why?
- Lickitung evolves with Rollout because Lickilicky is fat and round
- Tangela, Yanma, and Piloswine evolve with Ancient Power because Tangrowth, Yanmega, and Mamoswine are based on specific prehistoric animals (and I guess those bigass jungles you typically associate dinosaurs with)
- Eevee evolves with Baby-Doll Eyes or Charm because Sylveon is a cute Fairy-type
- Aipom evolves with Double Hit because Ambipom has two tails
- Bonsly and Mime Jr. evolve with Mimic because Sudowoodo's trademark is mimicking a tree, and Mr. Mime... is a mime (personally I would have gone with Reflect or Light Screen, but whatever)
- Steenee evolves with Stomp because Tsareena is a goddamndominatrixseriouslywhatthehellgamefreakwhywouldyoudothistoadorablepurelittlesteeneeyousickpervertedfucks
- Poipole evolves with Dragon Pulse because Naganadel is a Dragon-type
Here´s my best guess. This is Grapploct´s shield dex entry: Searching for an opponent to test its skills against, it emerges onto land. Once the battle is over, it returns to the sea. (why is it not a water type? it literally lives in the ocean)
Grapploct actively seeks out opponents to fight, because It likes fighting. As we all know, taunt prevents status moves. In a way, taunt forces the opponent to actually fight so that Grapploct can test its skills.
I thought of this as well, but the problem with this argument is that it's very inconsistent with other Pokemon that are based on wrestling. Machamp, Tyrogue and Hariama don't get taunt at all, for example. THE pokemon known for wrestling and theatrics, Incineroar, doesn't have taunt in it's level-up movepool. You'd think that Incineroar should learn taunt naturally, if taunt is really supposed to be linked to wrestling theatrics.
Now, you could also argue that the other wrestling Pokemon should have taunt in their level-up movepool as well. Maybe GF only realised that taunt would make thematic sense for wrestling Pokemon in gen 8, and never went back to the old Pokemon to correct this.
Right, but Marill doesn't need Rollout to evolve and Riolu doesn't need a Metal Coat. Pokémon's always inconsistent like this.
I uh
I think you have a special filter on there, Kurona.
But otherwise, I agree. They just wanted Grapploct specifically to evolve by taunt because it's a wrestler; they probably thought it'd be a fun gimmick to tie into the luchador octopus and frankly I always enjoy seeing Pokemon evolve by move usage.
Speaking of which, the other Luchador pokemon, Hawlucha, ALSO gets Taunt.
Also a small correction, Eevee can theroretically evolve with any fairy type move. The way its coded is it just looks for a move's type, not specifically Baby Doll Eyes & Charm, it just happens to be those are the only fairy moves it can learn since they didn't want other, more useful, fairy moves getting into its learn set without evolving.
Yeah. The reason I singled out Charm and Baby-Doll Eyes is because they embody Sylveon more than just Fairy-type moves in general. There only like three overtly cute Fairy moves: Charm, Baby-Doll Eyes, and Sweet Kiss.
Speaking of Fairy moves, here's the description for Fairy Wind:
The user stirs up a fairy wind and strikes the target with it.Cool, thanks game. That definitely clears up what exactly a "fairy wind" is.
Friendly reminder that Sylveon is actually terrifying. Emotion-controlling tentacles sprouting from the neck and one ear is not what I would call cute, I would lean towards adjectives like "eldritch."
those are my favorite descriptions
It's a fun contrast to, say, Confide
Magnetic Flux is also funny because
Seems reasonably flavorful and hten you find out the japanese name is literally Magnetic Field Manipulation.
Incinyewoaw is now my favorite pokemon name ever.
I think yeah taunt was just a matter of...wrestlers taunt, why don't we have a wrestling pokemon who did it.
There could be a thesis in explaining Japanese to English pokemon translations.
I think yeah taunt was just a matter of...wrestlers taunt, why don't we have a wrestling pokemon who did it.
There could be a thesis in explaining Japanese to English pokemon translations.
While Incineroar's case admittedly makes no sense, the other three are not of the same kind of wrestling; not the one with acting involved.
I love the one for Trick-or-Treat for how stupid it sounds. "The user takes the target trick-or-treating." Really? In March? At 4pm? Without a costume? For how long? And where exactly? I'm just picturing the battle being called to a halt while the opponent's Pumpkaboo skips off with my Pokemon around the neighbourhood in search of candy and they don't return for another 3 hours.
Would it have been too hard to write "the user imbues the foe with a spectral energy" or something similar? That was literally off the top of my head.
There's tons of moves with descriptions like that. And Abilities are lucky if they even get any kind of flavor text. I wish they would give each Move & Ability both a Flavor Description (where you're told what the Move/Ability looks like in action) and an Effect Description (which tells you the actual in-game effect). Same for Items but obviously the description describes more about its appearance and if its giving off any other traits we can't visibly see. Right now there's only one description box and if the Move/Ability/Item's in-game effect requires a bit of length to explain they either sacrifice flavor text completely (often seen with Abilities) or the flavor text simply tells us what the move's name already implies with the effect also being vague.
The Fair Folk weren't all sunshine and pink rainbows (infact in ancient times they weren't at all) and I'm glad plenty of Fairy-type Pokemon show off this side of them.
Well it's a Ghost-type move. My guess the user either takes or hypnotizes the target into a pocket dimension where it's always Halloween and they go on this twisted trick-or-treating trek where the target Pokemon begins to enjoy and indulge itself, not realizing that staying in this dimension makes their spirit more exposed thus gaining the Ghost-type.